Personal computers and business computers are continually attacked by trojans, viruses, backdoors, exploits, and other harmful or unwanted programs. These programs can alter a user's computer files by adding or deleting data. And in other instances, these programs can read the data stored in a computer file and report it to a remote system. For example, a trojan could read a list of contacts stored in a file corresponding to MICROSOFT OUTLOOK and report those contacts to a spammer. Similarly, a trojan could read personal financial data from a MICROSOFT EXCEL file and report it to a remote computer.
Software and techniques, including antivirus products, anti-spyware and anti-malware products, exist to screen for malicious programs. Antivirus and anti-malware products generally create a definition library that includes definitions for known malicious programs. Unfortunately, antivirus and anti-malware products that rely on definition libraries are often vulnerable to new viruses, trojans, exploits, and malware products. Moreover, users that do not update their definition libraries frequently are vulnerable to known viruses, trojans, exploits, spyware and malware products.
With the increase in attacks on personal computers, cell phones, personal digital assistants, and the like, additional protection is needed to monitor the behavior of applications running or attempting to run on a computer system.